Waterford’s History Is on Display in Montpelier

 

photos by Donna Heath & Helen Pike

It’s lively, it’s local, and it’s uniquely Waterford: the hands-on archaeology “dig” that’s become an annual feature of the Waterford Historical Society’s partnership with Waterford School and local landowners. Now, from April 7 to July 31, it’s also on display at the Vermont History Museum at 109 State Street in Montpelier.

 

The exhibit features energetic approaches from 14 local historical societies, focused on the stories people share about their families, events, and grasp of the very personal past. Waterford’s portion shows students from the school, examining the remains of dairy farming at the Hale-Bonnett-Koeppl farm on Lower Waterford Road.

 

Also in the exhibit, visitors can find information on the hundreds of other local history organizations around the state via an online directory kiosk, and can “Build Your Own Historical Society” choosing objects for their own historical society, using examples from participating organizations and the Vermont Historical Society. 

Support for the exhibit is provided by the Alma Gibbs Donchian Foundation. Current hours are 10 am–4 pm, Wednesday­ through Saturday (see vermonthistory.org for updated hours and visitor guidelines).

 

* *

To browse more material on this blog, click here, and note the white search box at the top left corner. 

 

Digging into History, with Waterford's Kids and Coaches

Surveying the barnyard.

Waterford Historical Society Kids’ Presentation 
Wednesday, September 26, 6:30 pm
Community Room, downstairs in the Lower Waterford Congregational Church (next to the library and across from the Rabbit Hill Inn)
Lower Waterford, Vermont
*Free*

A week-long coached "dig" by kids in the barnyard of a historic barn yielded evidence of the farm's past uses, and lit interest in archaeology for grades 4-8 students in Waterford. See their discoveries and hear about this community collaboration.

Learning about Waterford's past.

This presentation the regularly scheduled Waterford Historical Society meeting, and also part of Vermont Archaeology Month.

How do archaeologists do this part?

Are you curious about what the students found? It was part of the local school's summer adventure camp, and was a big success! Each day the students gathered at "Base Camp" in the community room of the Lower Waterford Congregational Church, did some thinking and brainstorming with coaches like Helen Chantal Pike, Craig Brown, and Donna Heath, then walked the mile down the road to the farm.

Sifting the soil and hay -- what's in there?

Base Camp!

[Photos courtesy of Donna Heath and Helen Pike -- thank you!]

Newest Waterford Map, In Progress!

First graders in Jenelle Noble's classroom at the Waterford School worked on this map last week. They were curious about locations of the 13-14 district schools, as well as some of the older place names in town. So we started with a HUGE map drawn on a bed sheet, with the school districts marked and numbered. Roads are marked but not yet named -- they may work on this! But each student already figured out where home is ... those are the felt squares pinned into place.